The concept of post-apocalyptic life has been around for decades. From The Magic Island (1929), to the much more well known The Walking Dead (2010), a common concept of life, death, and most importantly, zombies has always spared interest.

I believe The Last of Us is an undeniably beautiful portrayal of the struggles people in this dystopian world face and the relationships made, or broken, along the way. 

It started with a game, beautiful for its time but even more stunning and impressive now, helped by the new developments in modern technology. 

In the first game, one of two, we follow Joel; A hardened survivor struggling with processing unacknowledged emotions. These emotions are fueled when he meets Ellie, a fiery 14 year old with a hidden secret.

The game regained popularity after its sequel was released in 2020, and the fuel from that provided a baseline to begin creating a live-action adaptation. Personally, I believe what they have done with the show is beautiful. Normally, and I feel many people may agree, television adaptations tend to be worse than the source material or, at the very least, don’t feel the same. However, I think The Last of Us breaks this common cycle.

As new episodes for Season 1 come out periodically, this topic of conversation has sparked controversy. Many people are coming out and nitpicking things in the show, or aspects regarding the production value. Particularly, a clip of the camera crew being visible and a few clips of background characters doing things that don’t make sense have been surfacing. Some are criticizing the action scenes, calling them lackluster or boring.

As someone who was an avid fan of the games before the announcement of the show, I think the adaptation is, despite its problems, utterly beautiful. Yes, I agree with some of the critics, but the focus on emotions and relationships also offers an almost new view of the characters. The slightly different portrayal of Joel, almost a bit more soft in the show, portrays the true emotion he’s been concealing. Although the action sequences are a bit toned down compared to the games, the TV show format doesn’t allow for aimless walking around and hours of gameplay. 

With this in mind, The Last of Us, in my opinion, is a great adaptation of a memorable game. Sticking to the source while also bringing in more emotional scenes filled with incredible acting and character development, this show is a prime example of how to make a good game into an amazing show. Now, I encourage you to watch it for yourself! No spoilers here! Go see how good it is, and along the way, maybe add it to your favorites!